Schools have been accused of bribing problem pupils to stay at home during Ofsted inspections, to try to make them look better.

Bad pupils have been ‘removed’ on the day of Ofsted inspections, according to some teachers

They are also allegedly taking disruptive children on trips to places such as Alton Towers, telling weak teachers to stay at home and bringing in âringersâ from elsewhere to trick inspectors.

The allegations, made by teachers to the Times Educational Supplement, could damage parentsâ faith in inspection reports, campaigners said.

Nick Seaton, from the Campaign For Real Education pressure group, said they were shocking and added: âI donât think teachers would be saying things like this if they werenât true.â

The tactics are reported in the respected teaching publication today.

One anonymous contributor said badly behaved children at their school were paid up to £100 each to stay away during Ofsted visits.

Another told a TES forum a colleague judged âoutstandingâ was sent to a struggling school and told to claim she had always worked there. A third teacher claimed his previous school âsent two coachloads of disruptive pupils to Alton Towers during the two days of Ofstedâ.

Ofsted said it was treating the âanonymous and unsubstantiatedâ claims with caution but confirmed 38 complaints about schoolsâ behaviour during inspections were made between last April and November.

Ofsted boss Sue Gregory said: âThere have been only a handful of issues raised with us about possible misrepresentation of the schoolâs position.â